Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:

PTA Treasurer

Donna Spittle

P.O. Box 708

Hummelstown, PA 17036

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

History has a way of repeating itself and the fur prices we received at our District fur sales reflected this. Human nature leads people to remember the good times, like when a visitor stops by our trapping booth at a show and we ask if they trap. The reply is “I USED TO”. Then they will proceed to tell us about the $70 fox and $8 muskrats they remember selling. What do you think some of our forefathers would think if we told them Muskrats fetched $18 this year? I don’t know where the present fur market will lead to, but for less than the price of a fox a trapper could become a member of our state association and the national organizations. Think about how great it would be if history would repeat itself with members.

The PTA newsletter and sweepstakes tickets will be arriving soon at your house. I encourage everybody to do their part in selling tickets this year. As you are aware the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show was postponed. This show was a very important part of our annual ticket sales and public relations. That is why I am asking for your help in selling tickets this year. I’m sure everyone knows another sportsman that will support our conservation pledge.

This year is an election year and ballots will also be mailed this spring, please let your voice be heard and return your ballot to John Falter, the election chairman or bring it to the rendezvous.

The last item I have is a LOST and FOUND! A brown corduroy jacket was left at the District 11 fur sale. Some young boy is without a coat. The name Thomas is in the jacket. Contact me if you know Thomas.

“OUR IMAGE, OUR FUTURE” — Brian Mohn

PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR’S REPORT

I have received three confirmed reports of illegally set cable restraints. We cannot let this continue. Please report any sets that are illegally constructed, and therefore, jeopardize every ethical trapper in our state.

Reports from district fur sales look very encouraging. However, keep in mind the better the fur is handled the better price you will receive. Good luck on your sales.

I continue to see articles in trapping publications where trappers describe the use of wire as a terminal attachment. Jim Bridger and his fellow trappers may have been limited to wire, rawhide or whatever was available, we are very fortunate in this area. With access today to aircraft cable, in my opinion, short of using chain, this is the easiest and most secure method to anchor any trap, extend a snare, or develop a drowning rig. An example, cost wise for an extension on a coon trap, three feet of 3/32 cable 19- 25 cents, three ferrules 18 cents, and one swivel 36-42 cents. Total cost maximum, 82 cents and use it time and again with no fear of wire breakage. A simple loop at one end of the cable, with a swivel at the other end, and you have the answer to numerous situations. Additionally, these cable extensions will last for many years. If you use cable restraints or beaver snares you will have cable that can not be reused for either of these tools, but sections that can work quite well for making extensions. Need I mention the challenge of removing that wire without puncturing a glove or finger? And then, what do you do with the wire, put it in your pocket, drop it in your basket or bucket? As the old saying goes, Keep it Simple. — Barry L Warner

ELECTION CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The Pennsylvania Trappers’ Association Inc. will hold an election during the State Rendezvous from June 6-9th to fill the offices of President, Vice President-East, Vice President-West, Secretary, Treasurer, Editor, Public Relation Director, NTA Director and FTA Director. Anyone interested in having their name on the ballot for this election should forward their résumé to John Falter via email at jsf9.edu@verizon.net or U.S. Mail at 1376 Woodcrest Drive, Reading, PA 19607-2218. Résumés must be received no later than March 15, 2013 in order for your name to be published on the ballot. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact John via email or phone. Ph: 610-777-5616.

STATE CONVENTION REPORT

Hello to all. The State Convention is creeping up on us quickly, but things are moving along nicely. The dates are June 6-9 at the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert, Pa.

The demo schedule is finished and can be checked out on the PTA website. Patches, pins and shirts are being made. Programs are at the printer and entertainment for Saturday night is lined up.

We are still looking for help during the show. If anyone is willing to help out, even if only for a few hours, please let me know.

Here are several hotels to call for reservations. All are in the Wind Gap area about 15 minutes from the fairgrounds: Red Carpet Inn – 610-863-7782; Travel Inn – 610-863-4146; Gateway Motel – 610-863-4959. If you want to go into the Stroudsburg area, here are a few to try: Ramada Inn – 1-800-441-2193; Best Western – 570-421-5791.

Remember you should book early because this is a race weekend at Pocono Raceway. If you go to the Wind Gap area you should avoid a lot of the race traffic.

That’s it for now. Hope to see you all at the show. — Scot Mucha, 610-863-9759

DISTRICT 3 REPORT

Hello All,

I want to thank everyone who came out to the fur sale on January 27, to sell your fur. We had a good pile of fur there and everybody seemed to like their prices, which is something that doesn’t seem to happen enough. District 3 thanks you for your support. I also want to thank the fur buyers for sorting through a bunch of fur that day, as well as all our help in the setup, carrying fur out, and quick cleanup of the building, turned a big job into less than an hour. I put the sale info below. The high prices listed below are the high prices for one lot of fur and not individual pelts. There were a handful of green raccoons sold that were added to the raccoon average also.

The tentative date for our spring meeting is Sunday, March 24, at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds. We will use this meeting for planning all of our yearly events, as well as the start of planning for the 2014 PTA / FTA convention. Ideas have been getting passed around on the convention already, but your input is important. We’ll get planning and make sure 2014 is a great rendezvous. You should get your d-3 newsletter sometime after the 1st of March. Meeting info will be included along with the banquet ticket application. Date of the banquet is April 20, at the Youngwood Fire Hall. Hope to see you at these events.

‘Till next time. — Dave Eckels

DISTRICT 3 FUR SALE

January 27, 2013 — Washington County Fairgrounds

Listed by Species, #sold, Avg., High

Beaver — 81; 25.00; 40.00

Raccoon —2284; 12.64; 20.26

Muskrat — 1158; 10.95; 13.30

Red Fox — 106; 43.42; 57.00

Gray Fox — 42; 30.22; 34.00

Mink — 51; 22.05; 27.00

Deer Hide — 23; 5.00; 6.00

Skunk — 3; 2.33; —

Otter — 4; 100.00; —

Coyote — 80; 20.11; 40.00

Opossum — 122; 2.79; 3.79

Bobcat — 2; 65.00; —

DISTRICT 4 REPORT

With the end of trapping season growing near, we all have hopes that our efforts will pay off at the local fur sales. The District held its annual fur sale in mid January with only a couple buyers to support us and I would like to thank them now. Prices seemed to be good and only a few pelts left unsold which is the norm. As always average prices take in the best and the worst of everything but give us a guideline.

DISTRICT 4 FUR SALE

JAN. 20th

Listed by Species, Amt. Sold, Total sales, and Average

Raccoon — 623; 7232; 11.60

Grey fox — 129; 3835; 29.80

Red fox — 66; 2376; 36.00

Coyote — 26; 470; 18.07

Beaver — 12; 149; 12.40

Muskrat — 157; 1732; 11.05

Mink — 48; 957; 19.93

Fisher — 2; 100; 50.00

Bobcat — 7; 640; 91.42

Opossum — 55; 136; 2.47

Skunk — 4; 18; 4.50

After the sale a short meeting was held and a few items discussed. The main topic was the Game Commission’s beaver study that will again be conducted in the 2013-2014 trapping season . Also the upcoming April 6th Fur Sale at the Jefferson County Fair grounds. Sale starts at 8:00. Any question call Jeff 814- 781- 7539.

DISTRICT 7 REPORT

District 7 had a fur auction on January 13 at Washingtonville. I would like to thank all of the people who worked to make it a success. It was a long day but it was worth it. And I would also like to thank the buyers and the sellers who were there.

We had a booth at the Bloomsburg Sportsmen’s show and I would like to thank everyone who helped with the setup and takedown and everyone who worked at the booth. We will be at the Mifflinburg Cabin Fever Expo on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24. If you can help man the booth please contact me. WNEP-TV will have the PA. Outdoor Life Expo at the Lycoming Mall on April 4 to April 7. District 7 will have a booth there. This is the biggest show that we attend and I could use a lot of help manning the booth. Contact me ASAP if you can help. 570-437-2679 or email, Minkman46@AOL.com Thank You. — Pete Rake

DISTRICT 7 FUR SALE

Washingtonville, PA

1/13/2013

Listed by Species, Quantity Sold, High $, Low $ and Average $

RACCOON — 1330; 34.50; 2.00; 18.34

MUSKRAT (BR) — 2769;18.10;1.60;15.47

M. MINK — 207; 35.00; 9.50; 29.34

F. MINK — 102; 24.00; 4.00; 18.86

RED FOX — 242; 60.00; 9.00; 40.22

GRAY FOX — 69; 38.25; 12.00; 30.07

COYOTE — 38; 36.00; 2.00; 20.13

BEAVER — 61; 42.50; 9.00; 26.44

SKUNK — 19; 8.75; 1.00; 3.16

OPOSSUM — 196; 4.90; 0.50; 3.59

BOBCAT — 6; 75.00; 57.00; 64.25

FISHER — 4; 60.00; 9.50; 44.88

WEASEL — 1; 1.00; 1.00; 1.00

OTTER — 1; 52.00; 52.00; 52.00

GREEN RACCOON — 7; 15.50; 6.50; 9.82

GREEN M. MINK — 2; 15.00; 5.00; 10.00

GREEN F. MINK — 1; 5.00; 5.00; 5.00

SQUIRREL TAILS — 85; 0.22; 0.10; 0.20

Total Trapper Lots: 90

Fur Buyers Present: 4

DISTRICT 8 REPORT

Hello Members – Well, here we are at the end of the season. Now it’s time to get the events ready for the year.

We had our meeting on January 20 at Ickesburg Sportsmen’s Assn. There was a big turnout.

This year our trapper training school will be in Blain. We did not set a date as of yet. Our youth field days for this year are in Adams Co. on June 1 at East Berlin Fish and Game; in Franklin Co. on June 8 at Wayne’s Bar Fish and Game; in Perry Co. on June 8 at Duncanan Sportsmen’s Assn. Snyder and Mifflin Co. are not set yet.

Our next meeting will be on March 24 at New Bloomfield Fish and Game. We will auction off the FTA Trappers College trip at the meeting. So come and bid on a great event. You can also sign up for some of the events that we will be holding this year.

Our East Waterford Show is all set to begin on September 13th and 14th, so check out the flyers and reserve your spaces while they last. Thanks. — Chuck Filler

DISTRICT 9 REPORT

Real short this time. I am writing this on the eve of the coyote hunt. Next week we will have our fur sale. I’ll have a report from both of these next time. Remember: Our Image is Our Future. — Ed Price – price@nep.net

DISTRICT 10 REPORT

Hello to all. Hope everyone is making it through the winter OK. Hopefully we will get an early spring.

I am writing this the week before the fur sale, so I will have a report on that the next time.

There will be a sports show at the Agricultural Hall in Allentown on March 2 & 3. If anyone has a few hours to help man the district booth, please let me know.

Just a reminder that the State Convention will be June 6-9 and District Fall Convention will be September 27 & 28. Both of these will be held at the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert.

Meeting dates for planning the State Convention are March 17, April 21, May 5 and June 2, at the Belfast Club starting at 1:00 PM.

The carcasses found alongside the road in Lehigh Co. back in November were confirmed as fox. Please dispose of carcasses properly. This type of behavior gives all of us a bad name in the public eye. As far as I know, whoever dumped the carcasses was not found.

Our district fur sale held in January was a real success once again. We always have great help at the sale, which makes it run smoothly. Thank you to everyone that helped in any way to make it go so well. The prices that were paid for the fur were far and above anyone’s expectations and had some dealers scratching their heads. See the results at the end of this article. Very few trappers turned down the prices they were offered. Special thanks to the buyers that attended and bought our fur. A big thank you to Les Longenecker for doing a great job as our auctioneer.

We want to give special thanks to Amy Barto, who made and donated a quilt to the district that we raffled off at the fur sale. Thanks also to the trapper that won the 50/50 coon lot. He donated his share back to the district.

We will review the fur sale and the results at our Feb. 21 meeting at the Conewago Township Building. We will plan some of our events for the upcoming year. Two of them I can tell you about now. Both will take place on March 2. The Donegal Mini Sportsmen’s Show will be held at the Donegal High School from 4-9 p.m. We will also have a display booth at the Mt. Calvary Church Wild Game dinner that same evening.

Our next business meeting will be April 7 at the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds at 2 p.m.

Mark your calendar now and plan to attend the state rendezvous June 6-9 at the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert, Pa.

I’ll get you up to date from our Feb. meeting in next month’s column. — Mark Spittle, (717) 367=2637, spittlefam@paonline.com

DISTRICT 11 FUR SALE

Berks County 4-H Center, 1/12/2013

Listed by Species, Quantity Sold, $ High, $ Low and $ Average

Red Fox — 801; 69.50; 5.00; 42.11

Gray Fox — 6; 36.00; 16.00; 27.50

Opossum — 211; 5.25; 0.50; 3.89

Raccoon — 850; 34.00; 1.00; 16.02

Muskrat — 751; 18.25; 1.00; 14.50

Skunks — 27; 5.00; 1.00; 2.68

Male Mink — 90; 36.00; 7.00; 30.36

Female Mink — 49; 21.00; 5.00; 16.98

Beaver — 12; 32.00; 8.00; 20.17

Coyote — 7; 36.00; 5.00; 21.14

Deer Hides — 6; 9.00; 4.50; 6.25

Squirrel Tails — 43; 0.22; 0.12; 0.18

Black Muskrats — 2; 13.50; 13.50; 13.50

Total Trapper Lots — 49

Fur Buyers — 9

— Submitted by Ralph Wagner, District Director

DISTRICT 12 REPORT

Hello from the Southeast again. I hope all are well. By the time this comes out the bulk of the season will be closed and most will be patiently waiting for their “who wants to be a millionaire” check from Canada. The prices were certainly good this year and made explaining it to the wife a little easier. I hope everybody did well in the fields and at the auction houses this year.

My goal for this up and coming year is simple: make sure our members are as informed and as best trained as possible. Carrying out these two tasks will make our members both more successful and legitimate in the field. If we can indeed accomplish this goal it will make us better prepared for whatever the future brings. Our trapper training school will continue in September and our meetings will continue to have demos with the most up to date information I can get my hands on.

Hopefully this will find you before the meeting date, but don’t forget to check the State web site under current events for district dates and such. Our spring meeting will be Sunday Feb 24 at the Perkiomen Sportsmen’s Assn. Club, in Collegeville PA. The meeting will open at 10:00, there will be several demos, a dealer on hand, meeting with current State topics. For more information contact Rick Ameisen rmtcontracting97@hotmail.com.